Archive for February, 2009

It’s funny how proprietary you get — and how fast! — about the birds that come to your backyard feeder. First I saw a pair of white-throated sparrows. Then the northern cardinals. Then a pair of mourning doves. Then a downy woodpecker. And my attitude quickly became: they’re mine. I want ‘em!

But life has been so incredibly busy the past few weeks (mock trial season) that I didn’t have much time to look, and hadn’t seen the cardinals or the woodpecker in days. I admit: I was getting a little worried.

But today was a holiday, and I had no mock trial practice sessions scheduled, so I got to stay home all day. And between the laundry and the chores and getting my taxes filed, I was entertained by all of my “missing” backyard friends.

Can’t do just one shot today, ’cause I got two that I’m really happy with. The last full mock trial practice before my teams go into the regional competition ended a little early today so I scooted over to Branchbrook Park in Newark. Lo and behold… there were lots and lots of birds around, including a lovely female mallard:

Female mallard

What made the day even better was that I managed — finally! — to snag my first even half-way successful bird in flight — a little ring-billed gull:

There was a terrible wind storm today, wicked and destructive. Two people were killed by falling trees, the Turnpike was closed for miles, just terrible. Even the birds were totally and absolutely grounded. My resident mourning doves hunkered down and tried to ride it out as the wind even blew their feathers. Here’s one of them: